Automatic can crusher



Nov. 6, 1962' L. F. HUBER EQI'AL 3,062,130

AUTOMATIC CAN CRUSHER Filed July 20, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Fig. 8.

INVENTORS Leo R Huber BY Frank C. Kennedy 1962 1.. F. HUBER a-rm.

AUTOMATIC cm CRUSHER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 20, 1959 INVENTO Leo FHuber Fronk C. Kennedy United States Patent Oil-ice 3,062,130 FatentedNov. 6, 1962 3,062,130 AUTOMATIC CAN CRUSHER Leo F. Huber, 2828 CrackerAve., Redwood City, Calif., and Frank C. Kennedy, P.0. Box 823, Belmont,Calif. Filed July 20, 1959, Ser. No. 828,163 3 Claims. (Cl. 100-216)This invention relates to a device for automatically crushing cans.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a device which willautomatically feed cans to a crushing apparatus and crush the cans oneby one in sequential order so that the device may be left substantiallyunattended.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device having a canfeeding chute which is arranged to sequentially feed unitary cans to acan crushing chamber and to provide a reciprocating piston within thechamber which is arranged to sequentially crush cans dispensed to thecontainer and the further provision of a timing device which times themetering of cans to the crushing chamber at times when the piston is inthe retracted position.

A further object of this invention is to provide a can crushing devicehaving a can crushing chamber formed in a cylindrical configuration andarranged to form a guide for a can crushing piston or ram in which thecan crushing chamber forms the guide for the piston during its,

reciprocal movement.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a novel controldevice for continuously causing reciprocating movement of a piston inwhich the movement of the piston actuates a linkage mechanism to controla valve which operates to cause the piston to move forwardly andrearwa-rdly at a regular cyclic interval.

Still a further object of this invention is that the can receivingchamber is apertured with an aperture sufliciently small to allow acrushed can to drop from the can crushing apparatus but forms a stop torestrain the dropping of cans which are in the uncrushed condition.

A still further object of this invention is to provide bosses on the twoopposite can crushing faces which are formed at right angles to oneanother to ease crushing of the can.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon readingthe following specification and referring to the accompanying drawingsin which similar characters of reference represent corresponding partsin each of the several views.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the can crushing apparatus of thisinvention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken at line 3-3.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the invention taken at line 44.

'FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken at line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the electrical and hydraulic circuit forthe can crushing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the ram showing the boss mounted on the facethereof.

FIG. 8 is a view of the base plate showing a boss mounted on the facethereof.

Referring to the drawings the can crushing apparatus of this inventioncomprises a cylindrical housing A having a ram B reciprocally mountedtherein.

The end of the housing A is formed with a compression plate 15.

Cans indicated at C are fed into the can crushing chamher 18 disposedbetween compression plate 15 and the head 20 of ram B so that the cancan be crushed between head 20 of ram B and compression plate 15 tocreate a crushed can as indicated at C The cylindrical guide of housingA is formed with a cut-out portion 25 about the upper portion of cancrushing chamber 18 to allow the metering of cans into the can crushingchamber.

Ram or piston B is slidably mounted within the cylinder and is poweredby a hydraulic cylinder or motor 28 which causes piston or ram B to bereciprocally moved. A rod 29 connects motor 28 to head 20 of piston B.

The top portion of the piston is formed with a flange 30 which projectsupwardly outwardly through the cylinder of housing A by means of anelongated aperture 33 formed in the top portion of the housing. Flange30 is arranged to control the hydraulic circuit to effect thereciprocating motion of the crusher through a toggle mechanism 35.

Toggle mechanism 35 includes a pair of arms 36 mounted to flange 30 andeach attached to the side wall of housing A on pins 37 which engage witha loss motion slot 38 formed in arms 36.

A tension spring 39 is connected to the two opposite ends of arms 36 soas to tension the toggle mechanism.

' Thus as flange 30 moves toward one or the other side of center(established by a reference line between the two pins 37) the arms willtoggle to one or the other side of the reference line.

Movement of the toggle arm is connected to control a valve 45 through aswitching plate 45. Switching plate 45 is pivotally mounted on an axle46 mounted on top of housing A. Switching plate 45 is connected totoggle mechanism 35 through a connecting rod 48. The point of connectionbetween toggle mechanism 35 and switching plate 45 is arranged toprovide a sufficient leverage so that the switching of the toggle canactuate valve 40. The tip portion of switching plate 45 is provided witha microswitch actuating arm 49 which is arranged to actuate twomicro-switches 51 and 52 mounted on the top of housing A. The togglemechanism 35 is arranged so that when the piston moves with flange 30 tothe rear of the center line between pins 37 in the toggle will move tothe rear position as shown by the solid lines in FIG. 1 so as to causevalve 40 to be in a position so as to cause a reversal of the movementof the piston. Conversely, when flange 30 is moved forwardly beyond thecenter point the reverse will Occur causing a reversal on valve 40. Inthe forward position arm 49 actuates micro-switch 51 and in the oppositeposition the arm will actuate micro-switch 52.

Cans C are metered into can crushing chamber 18 on a can feeding chute60. A metering mechanism 61 is mounted on the lower end of the chutewhich is arranged having an L-Shaped arm 62 which is rotatably mountedon the end of the chute and controlled by a solenoid 65. The solenoidwhen actuated causes arm 62 to rotate thus causing the can resting onarm 62 to drop into can crushing chamber 18. The opposite leg 66 of arm62 functions to restrain the can immediately preceding the can meteredon chute 60 in readiness to be delivered to the can feeding chamber onthe next cycle of the machine.

The hydraulic circuit to actuate the device as seen in FIG. 6 includes apump 68 which is arranged to pump fluid into a reverse pressure tank 69.The output from the pressure tank is then fed into valve 40 which iarranged in one position to supply fluid from tank 69 to a first end 70of hydraulic motor 28. The valve in the same condition allows thehydraulic circuit of motor 28 to be directed throuh the opposite end 71of the motor through valve 40 to the input of valve 68.

When valve 40 is reversed end 70 of motor 28 is connected through valve40 to the input of pump 68 and end 71 is connected through valve 4-0through the output of pressure tank 69. Thus by shifting valve 46 thedirection of movement of hydraulic motor 28 is effected.

Actuating arm 49 is arranged to engage micro-switch 51 when the pistonis in the restricted position and engage micro-switch 52 when the arm isin the forward position. The micro-switches are connected through abattery St? to a two-way solenoid 65 which is connected in such a waythat arm 62 will rotate in the forward direction when microswitch 51 isactuated and will reverse operation when micro-switch 52 is actuatedthus controlling the feeding of the cans to the chamber.

The front face of head 2t) is provided with a horizontal boss 90 whichprojects outwardly from the face of head 20 a short distance along asubstantially horizontal axis. The face of compression plate 15 isprovided with a ver tical boss 91 which projects outwardly in verticalorientation relative to the plate. Boss 91 is provided with a knurled orrough surface so as to frictionally engage the ends of cans C which arein crushing chamber 18.

In operation pump 68 is actuated and cans are fed onto chute 60. Togglemechanism 35 thence reciprocates to cause valve 40 to shift from thefirst to the second position in accordance with the position of the ramrelative to the crushing chamber. By this mechanism the ram sequentiallyreciprocates so that both the forward and the reverse limits of thestrokes are limited only by the control afforded by the togglemechanism. By this means all cans are crushed to a substantially uniformthickness in that the forward stroke of the ram ceases after the ram hasprojected a given distance. This has advantages where it is desired tohave crushed cans which are of substantially uniform size.

The metering of the cans from the crushing chamber is obtained through aslot 95 at the bottom forward portion of chamber 18. Slot 95 is madeslightly larger than the crushed length of a can so that after the ramretracts the can will be in a position to drop from the chamber throughaperture 95. Boss 91 is oriented in a vertical position so as to offerminimum resistance to the dropping of the can through the aperture.

The bottom portion of the crushing chamber is constructed so as to forma complete support for cans so that only after the can is crushed canthe can drop through aperture 95.

The wall of cylindrical housing A functions both as the chamber orhousing to form the side walls of the compres sion chamber and thesupport for compression plate 15 in addition to providing a highlyaccurate guide for ram 13.

One of the important features of this invention i the provision of thetwo bosses 90 and 91 which are positioned at relative right angles toone another and in which one of the bosses particularly on compressionplate 15 is provided with a rough or frictional surface. The two bossesengage opposite ends of the cans at substantially right angles to oneanother to form a preliminary crimping which materially facilitates thecrushing of the cans.

The frictional surface on boss 91 in addition holds the can in place sothat there is a minimum of lateral movement during the crushingoperation thus preventing the can from being crushed other than in astraight crushed configuration. This prevents a flattening or an oblongcrushing which can occur if the two ends of the can are not held inrelative alignment during the crushing operation.

The vertical boss on ram B similarly holds the rear end of the can inposition so that the bosses in addition to forming the initial crimpingalso function to hold both ends of the cans in relative position duringthe crushing operation.

It is believed apparent that other control mechanisms other than thetoggle mechanism shown in the principal embodiment can be used toautomatically cause the reciprocal action of the ram. For example, theflange 30 could be arranged to directly actuate micro-switches as forexample the microswitches 51 and 52 of FIG. 6 which would operatesolenoid instead of the direct mechanical linkage shown in such a way asto alternate hydraulic valve 40. In such a variation the samemicro-switch can be used to control both operation of solenoid 65 andvalve 40.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail byway of illustration and example for purposes of clarity ofunderstanding, it is understood that certain changes and modificationsmay be practiced within the spirit of the invention as limited only bythe scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a can crusher the combination of a cylindrical housing, acompression plate mounted on one end of said housing, a piston mountedwithin said cylindrical housing slidably engaged with the cylindricalbore of said housing, the lower portion of said housing forming a guidefor said piston and a guide to align cans metered into the housing inregistration with said piston, a hydraulic motor a portion of which ismounted within said piston operable to cause said piston to move towardsaid compression plate and away from said compression plate, means tometer uncrushed cans between said piston and said compression plate,said cylinder having an opening therein adjacent said compression plateso as to allow a crushed can to fall by gravity through said opening,said housing formed to define a longitudinal opening extending throughthe housing to the piston, a flange formed on the piston projectingoutwardly from the housing through the longitudinal opening formed bythe housing, linkage means connected to said flange, and valve meansconnected to said linkage means to cause said hydraulic motor to move tothe forward and reverse direction in accordance with the position ofsaid flange relative to said housing.

2. A can crusher according to claim 1 and wherein a single elongate bossis mounted on said piston and a single elongate boss is mounted on saidcompression plate, the boss on said piston .and the boss on saidcompression plate being disposed at right angles to each other andaligned to bisect the center of the can when the can is depositedbetween the piston and the compression plate.

3. In a can crusher the combination of a cylindrical housing, acompression plate mounted on one end of said housing, a piston mountedwithin said cylindrical housing slidably engaged with the cylindricalbore of said housing, the lower portion of said housing forming a guidefor said piston and a guide to align cans metered into the housing inregistration with said piston, a hydraulic motor a portion of which ismounted within said piston operable to cause said piston to move towardsaid compression plate and away from said compression plate, means tometer uncrushed cans between said piston and said compression plate,said cylinder having an opening therein adjacent said compression plateso as to allow a crushed can to fall by gravity through said opening,said housing formed to define a longitudinal opening extending throughthe housing to the piston, a flange formed on the piston projectingoutwardly from the housing through the longitudinal opening formed bythe housing, lever arm means pivotally and slidably connecting to saidcylindrical housing and pivotally mounted on said flange, control valvemeans connected to said motor, switch plate means connected to saidvalve means to cause said hydraulic motor to move in the forward andreverse direction, linkage arm means interconnecting said lever armmeans and said switch plate means operable to control said valve meansin accordance with the position of the piston relative to thecylindrical housing.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS Geyer Mar. 26, 1889 Matthews et a1. May 9,1893 5 Cumpston Apr. 13, 19 09 Pickett Sept. 6, 1910 Ligon May 25, 1920Ernst et a1. Jan. 31, 1933 Kinkel Sept. 21, 1948 10 Voigt et a1 July 15,1952 6 Heymers July 15, 1952 Smith Nov. 25, 1952 Jennings Mar. 13, 1956Seltzer Oct. 30, 1956 Nelson Nov. 19, 1957 Beach Dec. 15, 1959 BunkeJan. 12, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain of 1896

